Virus Kids: Raccoon City
by Tando
Summary: Matt and Tina are back in this sequel to Virus Kids. After living normal lives in Raccoon City's suburbs, the T-virus hits the city with a vengance. Can Matt, Tina, and Sherry escape the city without the help from an old enemy?
1. Chapter 1

Didn't read Virus Kids? s/8141735/1/Virus_Kids

Author's Acknowledgement

When asked to chose between Resident Evil 1 and 2, I would usually chose RE 2 simply because I was introduced to the main characters (Leon and Claire) before I actually played the game. Don't get me wrong, I love the original game, Jill Sandwich and all (I've never played REmake, so maybe if I ever do, it'll change my opinion). But when it comes between the new games and the classic games, I'm really on the fence about that arguement. While the newer games (RE 4 and 5) have much better graphics, the reason I liked the classic games in the first place was because I didn't have to deal with my terrible shooter skills. I hope I bring some old and some new in this sequel, which will cover the events of RE 2, 3, and possibly Code Verionica.

Alert: I might discontinue this story at a certain point and wait for the release of RE 6 for the continuation of Sherry's story and maybe to introduce a new character from there.

Virus Kids: Raccoon City

Chapter 1

September 20, 1998 Raccoon City Suburbs

"Tina, have a good day at school!" Ann called, as she waved to her daughter.

"I will Mom!" Tina said, as she waved back at her mother. Tina smiled happily as she walked through the sunny neighborhood of the Raccoon City Suburbs to the bus stop. She hummed a quiet tune as she waited for the school bus. When it arrived, she stepped inside and easily found her blond haired friend.

"Sherry, there you are!" she exclaimed.

Sherry turned to see Tina, They sat together on the bus everyday.

The bus rolled up to the next stop, and the first kid to step onboard was dark haired, fair-skinned, boy with hazelnut eyes. He excused his way through the crowded bus to where Tina and Sherry were sitting.

"Hey there you guys!" Matt greeted his friends.

Some of the other kids on the bus snickered at Matt.

"Hey look at the faggot over there. He never hangs out with guys, right faggot?" one of them called.

Matt's face turned bright red in anger and annoyance. He reached into his back pocket and began drawing out a small, silver object.

"Matt, put that away." Tina grunted to him. Matt rolled his eyes as he slipped his pocketknife back into his pocket. He knew that Tina would have also liked it if he had roughened those kids up a little bit. But as usual, she had to be boring. On the other hand, being boring was also being responsible, and Matt, whether he would admit it or not, knew just as well as Tina about being responsible.

The bus finally arrived at Raccoon City Junior High. Tina, Matt, and Sherry stepped out with the rest of the children. They all had the same homeroom, and so after going to their lockers, they each took their seats. Tina and Sherry sat in the front right of the classroom, while Matt sat in the front left. Tina leaned in closer to Sherry.

"Hey Sherry, does your father know about…" Tina began.

Sherry looked at her friend, for she knew exactly what she meant.

"As far as I know, you're safe. But they're still searching for you guys." Sherry informed her.

A look of worry appeared on Tina's face. She knew that Sherry would never turn them into Umbrella, but were they watching them this very minute? Tina relaxed as the teacher walked into the room. They were done with Umbrella, now all they had to do was live a normal life, right?

"Matthew, please answer problem four for us please." the teacher asked.

"Ok. 'If x equals two, what would two x plus five equal?' That would be…six?" Matt stumbled on the question.

"Incorrect, Matthew. The correct answer is nine." the teacher coldly corrected him.

Matt couldn't believe the impatience and intolerance of the teachers at Raccoon City Junior High had. It was if all the teachers were working for Umbrella. Then Matt remembered that indirectly, everyone in Raccoon City worked for Umbrella, since the government was mainly funded on Umbrella's product taxes. And not to mention Umbrella owned the hospitals and their generous donations to Raccoon City's school district. Tina listened intently as the teacher lectured on, even though Birkin had taught them Pre-Algebra long ago. So far, seventh grade has been a breeze for the two. But Tina and Matt both had a bad feeling. It was just too easy, getting away from Umbrella. The orphanage they turned themselves into was a mere three blocks away from the Umbrella headquarters that housed them for a couple of months. Class was almost over when the teacher stopped us for a "very important announcement".

"The Umbrella Corporation will be holding a job fair at our school in four days. All of you hoping to pursue a career in medicine or science, Umbrella is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world." the teacher then let us go.

"So, are you gonna go to the Umbrella job fair?" Matt asked.

"That's a stupid question, of course I'm not going." Tina replied, a bit upset he even asked.

"I'm going. My dad's suppose to be there." Sherry told us.

"Really? Then I think we should definitely go to that job fair. Maybe we can get him alone and make him tell us about our powers." Matt suggested to Tina.

"Hey Matt, I'm right here." Sherry informed him, waving her hand across his face.

"Oh, sorry Sherry." Matt apologized.

"Anyway, I don't think going to the job fair is a good idea. What if it's a trap?" Tina suggested.

"How could it be a trap? Nearly the whole school will be there, so there'd be no opportunity for the scientists to seize us, if they even know Umbrella's looking us. Besides, it's not like Wesker's going to be there." Matt said.

We all became silent at the sound of _his _name. Sherry and Tina looked at each other, knowing that wasn't exactly true.

"Well, he hasn't been visiting my Dad, or my Mom." Sherry reassured.

Matt couldn't help but snicker at the thought of Wesker with Annette, even though he knew it was rude. Tina nudged Matt in the elbow.

"You're being a jerk, Matt." Tina grunted to him.

The bus pulled up to Matt's stop. Matt waved goodbye to his friends and stepped out. Matt began walking the two blocks to his house. If we could catch Birkin at the job fair, we could get him to tell us about the full potential of our powers, Matt thought. Or we could get him to give Tina her full powers, since she seemed to only have a modified version of the powers Matt and Wesker possessed. Matt arrived at his families' spacious suburban home. He threw his backpack on the ground near the door, slumped down on the living room couch and flipped on the TV. Just before he changed the channel to his favorite afternoon cartoon, a newscast caught his eye.

"A mysterious sickness is sweeping the city. The Raccoon General Hospital has taken over one hundred patients with this seemly incurable disease. Rest assured, the top scientists from the pharmaceutical company Umbrella are working to finding a cure for this sickness, which has already claimed at least twenty lives. Details at eleven." the newscast reported.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Matt didn't change the channel. Instead, he dropped the remote and ran to his room. There, he opened up his drawer an got out his walkie-talkie. He turned it on and pressed it to his ear. After listening to static for a couple of minutes, Tina finally picked up.

"What is it Matt? This better not be another refrigerator joke." Tina scolded at him.

"It isn't, I swear, turn on the TV, and you'll see what I mean." Matt urged her.

"Alright then." Tina replied.

After listening for a few minutes, Tina's voice could be heard again.

"Matt, did you really call me just to see a report on the Raccoon Shark's upcoming game?" Tina whined, clearly annoyed.

"No, Tina, there was a report on TV about people getting really sick. I think it might be the T-virus!" Matt explained frantically.

"Matt, I don't believe you, how could you say that? The facility and the mansion blew up nearly two months ago, why could the T-virus leak into the city now?" Tina asked, not believing him.

"Tina, you've got to believe me, we need to get out of the city now!" Matt cried, nearly yelling.

"Matt, I think you're overreacting. It could've been anything, how are you certain it's the T-virus?" Tina questioned Matt.

"You should've seen the people on TV. They looked exactly like the zombies we encountered back at the mansion. Please, you've got to believe me!" Matt pleaded, reaching desperation.

"Alright Matt, if you're so set on it, I'll check it out." Tina said, finally giving in.

"You would? Oh thank goodness." Matt breathed.

"I'll keep you posted on what I find, ok?" Tina asked.

Matt hung up his walkie-talkie and put it back in it's hiding place when he heard a warm voice.

"Matt, are you home?" his mother called.

"I'm home Mom!" Matt replied.

"Alright then, come into the kitchen and have a snack." his mother called.

Matt ran down the stairs to the kitchen. There, his mother had gotten a bag of chips for him from the pantry. Matt gladly took the chips and opened them up.

"So how was school dear?" his mother asked.

"It was good Mom." Matt replied as he popped a chip into his mouth.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad you enjoyed it." his mother smiled.

Matt loved his adopted mother. In the few months he'd gotten to know her, it seemed like he'd known her all his life. There just wasn't anyone he'd ever known that gave him the same tender love and care. Matt's adopted mother Clara, was a single parent who before adopting Matt had yearned for the company of a child to call her own.

"Alright Matt, once you're done with your snack, I want you to start on your homework." Matt's mother told him.

"Ok Mom." Matt replied.

Matt finished his chips and headed back to his room. Instead of starting his homework, Matt went to his bedroom bookshelf and took out his favorite book, _Zombies? Zombies!_. He jumped onto his bed with the book and went through all of the tabs and bookmarks he'd made in the book. Ever since his adoption, he'd pretended to be a big fan of zombies, so his mother let him have tons of books, movies, and games on zombies. After separating fact from fiction using what he already knew, Matt was able to learn lots of useful information on zombies. But for this, he needed to consult his resources. Matt finally found the article he was looking for. _Zombie Apocalypse _it read, with a picture from the movie _Night of the Living Dead _beneath it. Matt read the first section of the article carefully.

_A Zombie Apocalypse is an event that occurs when the vast majority of a contained area's population become zombies, whether on a local or global scale._

He knew he couldn't allow that to happen to Raccoon City. He had to go to the hospital and get rid of those zombies. Matt began devising a plan. He would sneak out of the house at night, and slay the infected patients while most of the staff would be preoccupied. It would be a good deed, even if it did mean slaughtering innocent people. But these people were infected with the T-virus anyway, so it didn't really make them people anymore, right? Matt put the book away and actually started on his homework. Working on boring math problems, Matt mulled over his plans. He then thought, should I let Tina in on this? He rarely did anything without her, and after the mansion incident, he didn't think he'd ever do anything without her again. But these were special circumstances, and he knew that Tina was a terrible fighter, especially with guns.

"Maybe I should just tell her." he thought to himself aloud.

Then he realized, knowing her, she would probably tell him it was a stupid idea, but although his idea was blunt, he couldn't stand around and do nothing. So Matt decided to not tell Tina. Matt felt around his pocket and flipped out a small pocketknife. He had given his army knife to Tina during the mansion incident, but he didn't really use his own knife anyway. He went over to his bookshelf and took out a dark blue book titled: _Resident Evil_ in plain text. He opened it to reveal that after the first few pages, the book had been hollowed out. Strapped into the book was a custom Berretta "Samurai Edge" handgun. Matt took it out and started cleaning it using a rag he also kept in the book. He cleaned it regularly, in case he ever needed to use it.

"Matt, it's time for dinner, come on down!" he heard his mother call.

Matt quickly placed his gun back into the book and headed downstairs. Tonight he would sneak out of the house, and make the city safe from the horrible monsters of the T-virus.

"Goodnight Matt." his mother said as she kissed him goodnight.

"Goodnight Mom." Matt replied softy.

Matt's mother tucked him in and closed the door gently, as to not disturb her son. Matt saw the light in his mother's room flicker off. He waited, until he was certain she was asleep. He got up and put his _Resident Evil_ book into his backpack. He then opened up his bedroom window and jumped out. His superhuman powers allowed him to easily glide to the grass below, although he still felt the hard impact of the ground hit his feet. Once he had restabilized his feet, Matt took off into the quiet city streets.

Tina paced around her room. Why would Matt think the T-virus was infecting the city? All the monsters from the mansion, the train, and the facility bit the dust when they exploded. And if the T-virus was leaked, why would something so contagious take so long to spread? Then Tina thought, what if the T-virus was leaked from a different source? She thought of the Umbrella Headquarters, which would be the perfect place for housing B.O.W.s. And if the T-virus is loose in the city…what would Matt do about it? Surely he wouldn't stand by and let it happen, like she would, she thought. But what would he do? Then the answer flashed through Tina's mind. Tina grew angry for not realizing it sooner. In her anger, she punched her bedroom wall. The wall moved slightly, being a cheaply built house. Tina instantly regretted it, realizing that her parents might hear it and wake up.

"Dang it." she said, quietly rubbing her fist.

Just then, she heard a funny, mechanical whirling sound coming from the corner of the room. She slowly walked over to where she heard the noise. In the darkness, for a quick second she swore she saw a red light peeking out of the corner of the room. She bent down and discovered a small, black camera. Tina dislodged it, as it was apparently lodged into the carpet floor using four sharp picks attached to it. She examined it, and not to her surprise, discovered an Umbrella insignia on the back. So, Umbrella was still watching us, but if they know we're here, why haven't they moved in on us yet? Tina tinkered with the camera for a bit when she noticed that it had a communications option on it. Daringly, Tina pressed the button that activated the communications option. The camera's back opened up to reveal a screen attached to the back of it. On the screen, a brightly lit laboratory could be seen. Tina heard a voice begin to mumble. After hearing the sound of glass being put down, the screen changed, for it appeared that whoever was on the other side of the communication was picking his camera up.

"Ah, it's finally turning on! Oh, boy, I need my clean lab coat!" the voice proclaimed, carrying the camera with him as he walked over to the other side of the room.

After listening to more rustling and shifting, the man lifted the camera once more, this time turning it around to reveal his face.

"Tina! So good to see your face again, how are you doing?" William Birkin asked, sounding very chirpy, yet agitated.

Tina noticed right away that Birkin didn't look normal, even by his standards. His stubble had grown more noticeable, as if he didn't shave enough as it was, Tina thought. His eyes were different too, bloodshot, and deprived of sleep. His hair was messy, and unruly. It looked like he hadn't considered his personal hygiene in awhile.

"So, I see you've finally discovered my little surveillance camera. Do you like it? It's Umbrella's latest technology." Birkin asked.

"Not anymore than I like you, why are you still watching us?" Tina asked, unamused.

Birkin smiled.

"It's reasonable that you not trust me. But I think that you may benefit from my help." Birkin explained.

"What do you mean?" Tina asked, knowing that Birkin was about to pitch a deal.

"Matt as you may know, appears to be enroute to the Raccoon City General Hospital. There, I have set up a couple of U.S.S. soldiers to apprehend and capture him. We'll have him transported to the Umbrella Headquarters. Now you'll have two choices. One, you turn yourself into Umbrella and you and Matt will return to the way things were before. Or two, you don't return to Umbrella, and Matt will be subjected to, controversial experimentation." Birkin offered, sounding very sly.

"I'm not agreeing on anything!" Tina shouted into the camera.

"That's too bad, but we'll see if you change your mind once we have Matt. Until then, I'll be seeing you soon Tina." Birkin smirked, and disappeared from the screen.

Tina looked outside her window. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a figure darting into the rose bushes. So they are watching us, Tina thought. She shut the blinds and flopped down onto her bed. Matt, you better not get caught.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

September 20, 1998 Raccoon City General Hospital

Matt had just entered the hospital, with his plan completely figured out. He went up to the reception desk.

"Yes sir?" the reception lady asked, barely looking up from her book.

"I'm not feeling well…" Matt mumbled, before stumbling to the floor.

"Doctors, I need another bed here. Another patient's down." the reception lady called into the intercom.

Matt was wheeled into a hospital bed and taken to the first floor infirmary. The doctors couldn't tend to him right away, since there were more patients in a more critical state and left him lying there on the bed. As soon as he knew they were gone, Matt jumped off the bed and began wandering around the hospital. After finding a map of the place, he realized he probably needed to go to the morgue, which was in the basement. On the way there, all the doctors and nurses were in such a hurry, they barely noticed him, even if they saw or bumped into him. It's a madhouse here, Matt thought. Matt had finally reached the basement stairs. He made sure nobody was watching him before entering into the dark basement. The hall was dimly lit, with only a few flickering florescent lights lighting the hall. Matt easily found the morgue and entered. Inside, to his horror, he discovered that nearly all the drawers were, moving. They rattled violently, some were close to breaking altogether. Matt took out his knife and prepared himself. He opened the first drawer, and a naked zombie burst from it. Matt stabbed and slashed at the monster until it was dead. He repeated this action with several more zombies before putting them all back into their drawers. As Matt was closing the last of the drawers, he heard someone opening the door. He frantically looked for someplace to hide. He quickly hid in one of the empty drawers and pulled it shut. He heard the door open and heard footsteps. At first he assumed it was just more doctors, but a voice made him think otherwise.

"Where the hell's that kid?" a woman with a French accent asked, walking into the room.

"He's probably hiding in the room." a man's voice replied, more gruff than the first.

The realization that these people were looking for him struck Matt instantly. As long as they don't look in this drawer, I'll be fine, he thought to himself. Matt heard drawers being opened, and rapid gunfire whenever they'd open up the drawer of a zombie.

"Hey, keep it down Vector, this is a stealth mission remember?" Lupo reminded him.

"Of course, Lupo." Vector said, sounding a little annoyed.

"He's not here. Are you sure you saw him go into this room Lupo?" Vector asked, obviously impatient.

"Yes, I'm certain." Lupo coldly replied.

The two searched the room extensively, misplacing drawers everywhere.

"He's not here, he must have slipped out somehow." Lupo predicted.

The two exited the room, slamming the door behind them. Matt sighed in relief, when they were gone. He pushed the drawer he had hidden himself in, but realized that he couldn't open it. He looked around for a handle to use to push the drawer open, but there wasn't any. Matt sighed, slouching into the drawer, he had no way out. Then he remembered his knife, he took it out and slowly began carving out the drawer's door. Once the door was out, Matt squiggled out of the drawer and fell to the floor. He checked the basement hallway to make sure those two people were gone before he continued his zombie slayings. Matt then realized that the two people had shot down all the zombies in the morgue. He was just about to leave the room when the door was suddenly shot down by a round of rapid fire. Matt easily dodged the bullets, and when the two soldiers burst through the door, armed with machine guns, Matt had already pulled out his gun and started firing. The two soldiers disappeared into a faint blue mist. Matt couldn't see where they'd gone, but suddenly he felt a blade being pushed against his throat.

"Resist, and we kill you." Lupo told him.

Matt dropped his gun, and the two soldiers reappeared. Vector, who's face was concealed by a gas mask, picked up Matt's gun while Lupo held the knife at Matt's throat. The two soldiers disappeared again, but Matt still felt the blade to his neck. He walked with the invisible soldiers out of the basement, only stopping so that the soldiers could reappear and recharge their cloaking devices. They were nearly out of the hospital, and the soldiers were making their last stop in a janitorial closet to recharge their cloaking devices when Matt finally brought himself to asking a singular question.

"Where are you taking me?" Matt asked.

Vector laughed.

"You're funny kid, maybe this will give you a clue." Vector said, revealing the insignia on his armor.

The Umbrella insignia shown bright in it's red and white colors. Matt eyes widened, he was in a lot of trouble.

September 21, 1998 Raccoon Junior High

Tina anxiously ran up to the teacher.

"Where's Matt?" she asked, eyes wide.

"His mother called, she said he's not feeling well." the teacher informed her.

Tina knew that was a lie. She walked over to her desk and turned to Sherry.

"Matt's been captured." she said, careful to not mention her father.

"Are you going to look for him?" Sherry asked, leaning in towards her.

"I'm working on it." Tina told her, trying to sound confident.

The teacher started the lesson, and Sherry and Tina discontinued their conversation. So Umbrella had Matt, now what? Even if Matt was far more powerful than she was, he was still a kid. Tina knew she couldn't rely on Matt breaking himself out, maybe she did have to turn herself in. But she didn't want to leave her new life behind. But if that meant abandoning Matt, she cold never forgive herself for that. Tina sat back into her chair, for once too distracted to listen to the teacher. On some level, she'd resented Matt, ever since the mansion incident. After that, Tina knew what Matt was capable of, and that she still needed to be cautious around him. But that didn't mean she wanted to be responsible for his death.

Sherry tapped her fingers on her desk as she watched Tina worry about Matt. Tina tried hiding her worries and fears from her all the time, but Sherry was quite aware. Her mother was the same, hiding her worrying behind a friendly smile or a cheery grin. She knew Tina couldn't do anything, but she could. Sherry wanted to tell Tina that it was gonna be alright, that she would do something about it, but she knew she knew she couldn't give anything away. She watched as Tina tossed and turned in her mind. Sherry smiled to herself as she toyed with her lucky pendant. It was going to be ok Tina, she thought.

September 21, 1998 Raccoon City Suburbs

Tina arrived at her house and closed the door. Her parents worked long shifts, and wouldn't be home for a couple of hours. Tina walked over to her room and closed the door. She found the Umbrella camera and pressed the communications option. The screen flipped out again, and the screen popped on to reveal the same brightly lit laboratory, only at a different angle. This time Birkin picked the camera up right away.

"Hello Tina." Birkin mumbled, sounding grumpy.

"I know you have Matt." Tina confronted him.

"Look, Matt may have been captured, but I haven't heard back from the agents I sent." Birkin confessed.

"Then who took Matt?" Tina asked.

Birkin looked away from the camera, like he knew the answer.

"He was probably taken by Umbrella." Birkin confessed.

"But you work for Umbrella!" Tina cried, not quite understanding.

"The thing is, I've been cooperating with the United States government, who I plan to sell the T and G viruses to. The soldiers I sent to capture Matt were United States specialists. Someone under Umbrella must have discovered my true intentions." Birkin replied.

So Birkin had a side deal going on with the government. Then where was Matt? Maybe he was still at Umbrella's Headquarters, but in a different room than what Birkin had arranged. It was entirely possible, since Tina knew that Umbrella had some high security rooms where they could keep Matt. But where would she go to to find out which room he was in? She had no clue what to do.

"Tina, may I speak to Sherry?" Birkin asked.

"Huh?" Tina looked at him in surprise.

"Sherry's at your house, right? That's what she told me, that she was going to a friend's house, and I know she meant you, for a sleepover." Birkin told her.

Sherry wasn't here, she'd gone home as usual. Or, had she? The realization of where Sherry was hit her like a bullet.

"Oh, yeah. Actually, Sherry's kinda busy right now. She's having dinner downstairs." I lied, covering for Sherry.

"Alright then, tell her I said hi." Birkin replied, almost mockingly.

The screen went blank. Tina collapsed onto her bed, her head heavy with this new information. Could Sherry really save Matt? Or would she have to go and save both of them?

Quick Question: Who do you like better, Matt or Tina?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

September 21, 1998 Umbrella Headquarters in Raccoon City

Sherry pushed the ventilation duct open and crawled out. Umbrella's Headquarters was comprised of more researchers and businessmen than security. But even so, she still had to be careful. Sherry sneaked around the halls until she found the administration office. She knew the Umbrella Headquarters inside out, since her father sometimes had to take her there for long-term care whenever he needed to really focus on his research at the Umbrella Chemical Plant. Sherry hid in another ventilation duct until the secretary running the administration office left the room. Sherry moved the chair blocking the duct and squeezed out. After putting the chair back, she spotted the drawers, and walked to the first one. The files were about the current "objects" in hold at the Umbrella Headquarters. Listed under M, was Subject 6288, part of codenamed "Cure and Perfect" project. This had to be Matt, Sherry thought. He was being housed in room 114, which was on the fourth floor. Sherry turned around and heard the door being opened. She stood up from looking at the file, looking for somewhere to hide. The vent was on the other side of the room, and was also blocked by a chair that she didn't have time to move. Then Sherry spotted the office closet on the side of the room. She ran over to it, and opened the closet up. The shelves tightly divided the closet, but the bottom shelf had just enough space for her to curl inside. She curled herself up inside the closet and closed it just as the door was opened. Sherry nearly gasped as she realized that she didn't secure the door close and the closet door was peaking open. The secretary looked over from her desk and saw that it was slightly ajar. Sherry's heart dropped as she watched the secretary walk over to the closet door. She squeezed her eyes shut, but she still heard the secretary's heels approaching, getting louder with each _click, clack, click, clock._ The heels of her shoes stopped. The woman took the handle of the closet door, and closed it shut. Sherry heard the clicking of the latch secure the door close. She quietly sighed to herself, glad that the secretary didn't catch her. But after she secured the latch, would Sherry be able to get out? She didn't want to try opening the door just yet, she needed the woman to leave the room first. Sherry waited in the closet for what seemed like an eternity in the closet, and her legs, curled into a funny position, were becoming cramped and hard to move. She heard the door close, and after listening in for a couple of seconds, came to the conclusion that nobody was in the room. She pushed on the closet door, but it wouldn't budge. She then saw a tiny opening between the two closet doors. She squeezed her fingers into the small crevice, and successfully unhinged the latch. With all her strength, she shoved herself out of the closet door, falling to the cold floor. When she got up, she saw, to her horror, that the secretary had come back into the room, and was standing right in front of her. Before Sherry could say anything, the woman cried,

"Security!" she yelled, in a high, piercing tone.

Sherry ran over to the vent, seeing that the secretary was trying to grab her. She pushed away the chair, accidentally knocking the woman over with it.

"Sorry lady!" Sherry cried as she crawled into the vent and shut the grate tight.

Two security guards burst into the room, only to see the secretary, a misplaced chair, and an open closet. It wasn't long before Sherry heard the lockdown alarm sounding. She knew she would have to work faster to find Matt. She continued to crawl through the vents, using various ladders to get up to higher floors. Sherry finally reached a vent that she was almost certain lead to the fourth floor. Just to be sure, she took a look through the grate. When she saw the vent did lead to the fourth floor, she let out a sigh. While Matt's room was just across from the vent, there were two armed guards blocking the entrance. Sherry leaned against the vent, unsure of what she should do. She could try to find a vent that lead to Matt's room. But in such a high security room as his, there probably wouldn't be a vent leading to his room, or would there? Sherry took another vent ladder up and after some more crawling, found a vent that lead directly to Matt's room, but it was on the ceiling. With her foot, she kicked the grate open. The grate fell to the floor, but Matt didn't seem to notice.

"Psst! Matt, it's me!" Sherry cried in a shouted whisper.

Matt, who had been sitting in the middle of his room, twiddling his thumbs, looked up.

"What are you doing here?" Matt asked as loud as he could without the guards hearing him.

"I'm here to get you out of here." Sherry told him.

"And how are you going to get me up there?" Matt asked, crossing his arms.

"I…I'm still working on that." Sherry confessed, realizing that she hadn't thought of that.

"It's alright. I have my own way of getting up there. Get out of the way." Matt told her.

Sherry backed up into the vent, as Matt stepped back. After he reached the end of the room, he sprinted towards the vent at such a marvelous speed, Sherry could barely even see him move. When he was just above the vent, he took a flying jump, soaring several feet in the air. With his hands, he barely grasped the edge of the vent.

"A little help?" Matt asked, swinging from the edge of the vent.

Sherry helped hoist Matt into the vent. Together they began crawling through the vent. Just as Matt climbed into the vent, the door to Matt's cell burst open.

"He's gone! Dammit!" one of the guards shouted, stamping his foot on the ground.

"He must have escaped through the grate!" the other guard cried, pointing to the open vent.

Sherry and Matt scurried through the vent, determined to reach the exit. They didn't have time to check to see if the guards had gone after them. When they'd finally reached the grate that would take them out of Headquarters, Sherry pushed at the grate, but it wouldn't budge.

"They must have locked it!" Sherry realized.

"There they are!" a voice cried.

Matt and Sherry whipped around to see two very squished guards awkwardly crawling towards them. Their large muscles and suits cramped them in the tight vents, and Matt couldn't help but snicker at the awkward pattern of their movements.

"They're coming!" Sherry cried, making Matt rerealize the seriousness of their situation.

Matt kicked at the grate, but it still wouldn't budge. The two guards were catching up fast, and Matt and Sherry had no where to go. One guard squabbled ahead of the other and grabbed Sherry's leg.

"Matt!" Sherry cried, trying to find something to grip onto as the guard pulled her away from Matt.

Matt stopped kicking the vent and kicked the guard in the face instead. The guard pulled back from the force of Matt's foot. Matt kicked the vent a few more times and it finally broke off.

"Let's go!" Matt yelled to Sherry.

Matt and Sherry squeezed through the vent before the guards could get them. As soon as they were out, Sherry firmly placed the vent back in it's place. Matt and Sherry ran from the Umbrella Headquarters, and into the city.

"Where to now?" Matt asked, as they walked along Raccoon City's deserted streets.

"I, I didn't really think of what to do after getting you out." Sherry confessed.

"Well, now that I'm free, why don't you go home, and I'll, um, see you at school tomorrow?" Matt suggested.

Sherry agreed, and they began walking in the direction of Matt and Tina's house.

"Umm, why did you save me?" Matt asked, rather awkwardly.

Sherry didn't have a straight answer. Out of the two of them, she'd known Tina better than Matt, and she'd distanced herself from him a bit after they'd come back from the mansion. After all, from what Sherry'd collected from Tina about their adventure to the Spencer Estate, it didn't seem like it had affected Matt in a very positive way.

"Because you're, my friend." Sherry said, in a half truth, half guess sort of way.

"Well, uh, thanks, I guess. Don't take it the wrong way, you know?" Matt said, laughing.

Sherry laughed back.

"Yeah, I get it." she replied, giggling through her words.

Just as they were about to part ways when something in Sherry's pocket lit up.

"Darn it! That must be my mom, she must have realized that I'm not really at Tina's house." Sherry realized, flipping out her cell phone.

"Hello?" Sherry answered into her phone.

"Sherry? Sherry it's me." Annette's voice called, though Sherry could barely make it out of all the loud background noise.

"Mommy? What's wrong?" Sherry asked, sensing the tension and worry in her mother's voice.

"Sherry, I want you to leave the house and go to the police station. Ask for the police chief, Brian Irons. He'll take care of you there. Whatever you do, don't come back home, ok?" Annette asked, her voice heavy and tense, like she'd just ran a marathon.

"Why? What's wrong? And what about Daddy?" Sherry cried, hearing crashes coming from the other side of the line.

"I can't explain right now Sherry. Just go to the police station and stay there, can you do that?" Annette asked, close to tears.

Suddenly, all Sherry could hear was static.

"Mommy? Mommy?" Sherry cried, demanding an answer.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, Sherry put away her cell phone.

"I'm not going back to Tina's house. My mom said that I have to go to the police station." Sherry told him, looking down.

"Why? Did something go wrong?" Matt asked.

"I don't know. I heard a lot of crashing and noise when she called. Maybe there was an accident, I don't know." she sighed, thinking of what might have befallen her father.

"Well, do you want me to walk you there?" Matt asked, holding out his hand.

Sherry looked at his hand.

"No thanks, I'd rather be alone right now. Thanks Matt." she declined, and starting walking the other way.

Matt nodded, and started walking home, as their two paths once again separated.

Quick Question: If Virus Kids was a game (for the Xbox or PS3) would you rather have Matt and Tina as a co-op team or Matt and Sherry?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

September 22, 1998 Raccoon City Suburbs

Tina tapped her foot on the ground repeatedly, in nervousness. Did Sherry rescue Matt? Or was she captured as well? She knew she would know the minute she stepped on that bus. She checked her watch. The bus' running late, she thought. Then a thought crossed her mind. What if Matt went back to being Crazy Matt and killed Sherry?! The thought nearly gave her a heart attack, but she steadied herself. Matt isn't crazy anymore, and when he was crazy, it was because he knew I would come back to life again, right? I jumped at the sound of a sudden screech, but then I realized it was just the school bus. I walked onto the steep black steps that lead to the bus' interior. Amongst all the loud, noisy, paper flinging kids, she noticed a pink hair band at the very back of the bus. She made her way to the back and saw to her relief, Sherry, sitting in her usual seat.

"I'm so glad you're alright." Tina told her, relaxing into her seat.

"Hey, can't I have hero moments too?" Sherry asked.

Tina smiled, Sherry was great, even if she does seem small and helpless at times. Now that Matt was ok, things could finally get back to normal.

The lunch bell rang and all the kids filed out of the classroom to lunch. Tina caught up to Matt in the hallway on their way to the cafeteria.

"Hey Matt!" Tina called, surfing through the sea of people to get to Matt.

"Yeah?" he asked once Tina caught up to him.

Tina bent down a bit, and spoke in a hushed whisper "You know when you were at Umbrella's Headquarters, did you pick up any useful information?".

Matt, never one to whisper, said in a very loud and clear voice. "Yeah, actually, I heard one of the scientists mention something about Wesker."

"Keep your voice down Matt!" Tina scolded.

"Oh come on Tina, it's not like there're Umbrella executives around to hear us. Stop being paranoid." Matt reassured her, still not whispering.

"Better safe than sorry." Tina told him, still whispering.

"Alright Mom." Matt mocked, going into a baby voice, but whispering.

"So what did you hear?" she asked, listening intently.

"Well, apparently they think Wesker's dead." Matt informed.

Tina looked at him. "Dead? But we saw him leave the mansion, he certainly wasn't dead then." she pointed out.

"Yeah, but he could've died later on. The scientists seemed pretty certain that he's dead." Matt countered.

Millions of thoughts ran through Tina's mind. The scientists believe Wesker's dead? He has the Progenitor virus, so he can't be dead. But, to activate the virus, you do have to die…So maybe he "died" in front of witnesses, and then once they'd left, he'd come back to life. But does Umbrella know he's still alive? Maybe the scientists were telling the truth, but Umbrella could have easily planted those scientists to make it look like they didn't know, or to make us believe he's dead.

"I don't think he's dead." Tina concluded.

"What if he is? Our problems would be over!" Matt proclaimed.

Would they?

"Well, I guess there isn't anything we can do except wait and see." she replied.

"And get some lunch!" Matt cried, no longer whispering.

September 24, 1998 Raccoon City Junior High

"Welcome students, to the Umbrella Corporation Junior Job Fair!" the Umbrella representative welcomed to the entire school.

The job fair was held in the gym, which was the only room big enough to hold all the stands and all of the students at once. The overly excited representative looked so happy and her smile was so big and cheesy, she might as well have been a robot. "Come and see all of the important jobs we do at the Umbrella Corporation! Come and see the prototypes of all of our latest projects, and don't worry teachers, they are all completely safe and kid-friendly! And last but most importantly, remember to have fun!"

The giant crowd of children nonchalantly flowed into the gym, with Matt, Tina and Sherry hanging near the very back of the crowd.

"Do you think any of the scientists here will recognize you two from the Headquarters?" Sherry asked.

"I highly doubt it. We were only there for a couple of months, and we spent nearly all of that time in our rooms." Matt pointed out.

"So, what are you guys planning on looking at?" Tina asked.

"Pf, I wouldn't buy any of Umbrella's crap." Matt spat.

"Well, at least looked interested, or some of the scientists might find us suspicious." Tina scolded.

Matt rolled his eyes. He hated the idea of pretending to like Umbrella, but he knew she was right. The three separated, Tina went off to the most crowded stand. The stand was for Umbrella's pharmacists, but it wasn't crowded for that reason. It was because the stand was giving away free samples of Aqua Cure, Umbrella's most famous product. Tina saw that the students had found it quite fun spraying each other with the green liquid, much to the annoyance of the workers. She picked up a free can of Aqua Cure, but when another student sprayed her with it, she didn't even turn to see who it was. Aqua Cure was a miracle healing spray, not a toy, she thought and pocketed the can.

Meanwhile, Sherry recognized one of the workers from the chemical plant her parents worked at. She immediately ran over to him.

"Excuse me, you work at the Umbrella Chemical Plant right?" Sherry asked.

"Why yes lit…" the worker turned to see Sherry, who he immediately recognized.

"Have you seen my Dad?" Sherry asked, examining the colorful plants on the worker's stand.

"I haven't seen your dad lately. He's been, very busy." the worker mumbled, fidgeting.

"You're lying." Sherry accused the worker.

The worker felt sorry for the kid, but he knew that if he gave away what he knew, he could lose his job, or worse. After coughing a couple of times, he simply ushered the child away. Sherry looked at the worker, who's skin was abnormally pale. She needed to find Matt and Tina to tell them about the worker's hidden information. She knew that worker knew what happened to her father. Tina and Matt could probably help her to convince him. Even so, she worried about her father. What's befallen him? Is he even still alive? No, I refuse to think such thoughts, Sherry thought to herself. She found Tina first, who was by a stand of Aqua Cure.

"Tina, Tina!" Sherry called, running up to her.

"What is it Sherry?" Tina asked.

"Tina, there's one of the workers from the chemical plant my parents work at here. He knows what happened to my Dad." Sherry told her.

"There is?" Tina asked, but before she could say more, a commotion coming from the left side of the gym caught their attention.

Students and teachers were crowding around that area.

"What happened?" Sherry asked another student.

"One of the scientist dudes collapsed." the student explained.

Tine and Sherry pushed through the crowd to see one of the scientists spayed on the ground, face to the floor. His skin was a sickly pale, making his veins more noticeable.

"Oh god…" Tina realized, reaching for her back pocket.

One of the teachers approached the fallen man, and checked his pulse. She stood up to give the horrible news "He's dead.".

There was a gasp from the students and the teachers. The teacher began to walk away when the pale scientist jumped to life and bit the teacher's ankle. The teacher's scream was only the first of a wave of screams and sounds. Students were screaming and running to the exits, teachers getting pushed and dragged along with them. Tina did her best to not get run over by the flow of students, but the endless onslaught was overwhelming. She scoured the crowds for Sherry and Matt, who'd disappeared into the crowd. Then, as the gym began to empty, she saw the bitten teacher, who'd been trampled over and killed, was rising up, along with the scientist. The horror of seeing them again struck Tina. She felt nocuous, and faint. She drew her knife from her back pocket, but she was frozen in place, unable to move, despite her mind pleading for her to do so. Then, she heard a voice.

"Tina! What the hell are you doing?! Come on!" It was Matt, calling her from the vent to the side of the gym.

Tina took one last glance at the pair of zombies, and stumbled over to the vent.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Why are we going through the vents?" Tina asked, as Matt closed the vent and began crawling forward.

"The school is a mess. A lot of the scientists from Umbrella turned out to be infected." Matt explained.

"And how did you figure this out?" she asked him.

"I got bored, so I snuck out of the gym. I ran into one of the Umbrella guys and he tried to bring me back to the gym. But before we reached the gym, he collapsed and turned into a zombie." Matt explained.

There he goes with the stories again. He told a story like that when we were separated at the Headquarters, Tina thought. But, was Matt telling the truth this time? Or was he weaving more lies?

"I see another grate!" Sherry called out.

It was a side grate, and it gave us a view of one of the school's hallways. Sherry was the first to peek through, but she looked away the minute she saw what was outside the vent. All over the hallway, there were tons of dead bodies. There was blood painted all over the hallway, covering the floor and walls in it's wretched smell. Sherry started breathing faster, clasping her hand over her mouth.

"It's ok Sherry, you'll be alright." Tina reassured her, while gesturing Matt to keep moving.

The three made their way over to the last grate that lead to the school's back entrance. Before Matt could open the grate, a zombie slammed himself onto it, collapsing it in. Matt took out his knife and sliced the zombie's head in half. This time Sherry _and _Tina put their hands over their mouths.

"Was that really necessary?" Tina asked, as Matt pushed the corpse aside.

"What did you expect me to do, ask for it to get out of the way?" Matt asked.

Matt, Tina, and Sherry made their way out of the school building and into the parking lot. There, a handful of zombies were roaming around, some feeding on the bodies of their victims.

"Where do we go now?" Sherry asked, looking around.

"How about away from here?" Matt asked, obviously annoyed.

"Yes Matt, we should get out of here. Then we can figure out what we're going to do next." Tina figured.

Sneaking past the zombies, the group made their way out of the parking lot. Crouching behind cars, they made their way to an ice cream parlor near the school that the students often frequented. It was a couple blocks away from the school itself, so they figured they were safe for now.

"So, now we can decide on what to do next." Tina said, relaxing into her chair.

"I want to know what happened to my Mom and Dad." Sherry said, looking down.

"They're dead is probably what happened." Matt coldly spat to her.

Tears started to brim in Sherry's eyes, and Tina gave him an angry stare.

"They're not dead! Don't say things like that!" Sherry yelled through her tears.

"I just thought you were tougher than this." Matt told her.

"I think we've all had a long day and need to rest." Tina told them, trying to calm them down.

"Excuse me, but aren't you supposed to be in school?" the ice cream parlor's waitress asked.

Matt, Tina, and Sherry all looked at each other for some sort of excuse.

"Umm, it's Professional Development Day. We get the day off." Matt lied, hoping she'd buy it.

"Oh, that's funny. I haven't seen any of the other kids in the parlor today." The waitress commented, slowly walking towards the back room.

"Let's get out of here, before she calls the cops." Tina said, getting out of her seat.

The three left the parlor and decided that they should all head to Sherry's house.

"Let's all exchange cell phone numbers in case we get separated." Tina suggested.

After exchanging numbers, Matt got a thought in his head.

"Hey, how about we try calling our parents. Just to see if they're all right." He suggested.

"Wow, I thought tough people didn't care about their parents." Sherry mocked.

"Yeah, but, you know, I, just want to make sure." Matt fumbled with his words.

Sherry rolled her eyes. "Sure."

Matt called his Mom first. She worked downtown, but Matt had her work number on speed dial.

"Hello, Slank and Wilkes Insurance, how may I help you?" a woman asked.

"Hello, may I please speak to Clara Brownsworth?" Matt asked.

"Just a minute please." The woman asked.

Matt nearly bounced up and down waiting for his Mom to pick up the phone. Sherry looked at Tina, who just shrugged at her.

"Hello?" Clara asked.

"Mom! Thank god!" Matt cried.

"Matt, what's wrong?" Clara asked, her voice becoming concerned.

"Oh, um, nothing. I just wanted to tell you that I'm going over to Sherry's house for a sleepover." Matt told her.

"Sleepover?!" Sherry cried, but Matt hushed her up.

"Oh, alright Matt. Just make sure you do your homework." Clara told him.

"I will Mom." Matt promised.

"Alright, I have to go now, I love you." Clara told him.

"I love you too Mom." Matt replied.

Sherry squeezed her mouth shut, trying so hard to not laugh. He hung up the phone with a smile on his face.

"Are you going to call your parents too?" Matt asked.

"Oh, yeah." Tina said, pulling out her cell phone.

Matt looked at Sherry, who just looked the other way. Matt didn't really understand Sherry. She'd been so brave when she'd saved him from Umbrella, why was she being so much of a wuss now?

"I'm done." Tina informed.

"Alright then, let's get going." Matt decided.

They got to Sherry's house without running into any problems, but by the time they arrived at her house, it was already the early afternoon. Sherry opened the door to her house, a small two bedroom house closer to Downtown Raccoon.

"I'm going to go take a nap. I can make dinner when I wake up." Sherry offered.

"It's fine Sherry, just get some rest." Tina assured her.

Sherry nodded, and climbed the stairs to her room.

"So, what the hell was that?" Tina asked.

"What was what?" Matt replied.

"Why was the T-virus leaked into the school using a bunch of Umbrella workers?" Tina asked.

"It could be for revenge, kind of like how it was with the mansion." Matt suggested.

Matt could be right, Tina thought. But why target a middle school in Raccoon City if it was Umbrella you were after. Or maybe the perpetrator was trying to extract revenge on the school, but that seemed too far-fetched.

"Maybe there was a leak of the T-virus, but the workers didn't know they were sick?" Tina suggested.

Tina leaned back on Sherry's sofa. "Good point, but who would leak it?"

Tina and Matt looked at each other, and even though nothing was said, they both knew what the other was thinking.

"The parents must have had something to do with it. Sherry said herself that she recognized at least one worker from the Umbrella Chemical Plant, there had to have been more." Tina concluded.

"But, why would they do it?" Matt asked.

"I'm not saying they did it, I'm just saying they must at least be involved." She stated.

Matt and Tina stared in silence a little more.

"Do you think the police can handle them?" Tina asked, looking up at him.

Matt rolled his eyes.

"Of course they can't, they're going to do some stupid things like mistake the zombies for citizens and they're all going to get

killed!" Matt proclaimed.

"Matt, seriously, what the hell is with your attitude?! First, you were mean to Sherry, took your anger out on a zombie, and now you're saying that Raccoon City is doomed?! What is with you?!" Tina shouted at him.

Matt angrily looked away. So did Tina. Meanwhile, Sherry had been watching their argument unfold from the stair banister. She'd never seen them fight like this before, ever. She knew, even then, that this was going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

September 24, 1998 Birkin Residence

Sherry awoke from her nap to the sound of pounding on the door. She got up from her bed and checked the time. Seven fifty already? It felt like she'd gone to sleep mere minutes ago. She groggily got up and went downstairs to investigate the noise. Any sleepiness she had was instantly yanked out of her by the sheer sight of what she saw at the foot of the stairs. Matt and Tina had pushed the sofa against the front door, and taken the coffee table apart and nailed it's legs into the window, which it's glass had been smashed. Outside, she could see the silouette of figures trying to get into the house.

"What's going on?!" Sherry cried to Matt and Tina, who're taking the rest of the coffee table apart.

"Finally you're up! How the hell could you sleep through all of that?!" Matt asked, taking off the top of the coffee table.

"Sleep through what?! What's going on?!" Sherry cried, demanding answers.

Matt rolled his eyes, but Tina explained to her, "Sherry, while you were asleep, more zombies came and surrounded the house.".

"But I thought we lost them back at the school!" Sherry cried, looking over Matt's shoulder to see the zombies trying to get into the house.

"Well, looks like there's more of them, hurray." Matt said, sarcastically.

"Anyway, Sherry could you go into the kitchen? We put up some barricades there but we haven't checked them in a while since there are more zombies coming in from the front." Tina asked, taking her knife and cutting out a stair banister.

"Ok." Sherry replied, and started heading for the kitchen.

"And Sherry, sorry about the mess." Tina apologized.

"It's ok." Sherry told her, knowing it was what they had to do.

Sherry opened the door that lead to the kitchen, and saw that most of the barricades were still holding up. She noticed that the kitchen table had been taken out to build a support for the back door and the window. Zombies had completely surrounded the front door, and they were building in numbers here too. Sherry then heard a loud crash coming from the front of the house. She was then greeted by Matt and Tina nearly breaking the door down and running into the kitchen.

"Sherry, we need to get out of here _now._" Tina explained, slamming the door behind her.

"Why?" Sherry asked.

"Because, the zombies have broken the front door completely open and are storming the house is why. Now let's go!" Matt cried, running for the back door.

Then Sherry remembered something.

"Wait! My lucky pendant, I left it in my room. I can't leave that behind!" she realized, running to the door.

"No way, we are not doing this!" Matt yelled out, breaking the supports on the door they'd previously made.

Tina looked at Sherry, and saw that if they didn't go and get her pendant, she would get it herself.

"Alright Sherry, I'll go and get it." She offered.

"Tina, really?! You'll get yourself killed!" Matt cried, prying off the last of the boards.

"Just go, I'll catch up to you later!" Tina told him, and disappeared into the crowd of monsters.

Matt cried out in protest, but she still went ahead. Matt grabbed Sherry and pulled her away and out of the house. Both of them ran away from the house, Sherry trying unsuccessfully to keep up with Matt. When he realized that Sherry was panting exhaustibly behind him, he slowed himself down to a normal walk and paced back to her.

"You tired?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Sherry nodded, far too out of breath to reply. Matt nodded back and started walking again, going more slowly this time.

"Is Tina coming back?" Sherry asked, so softly that Matt just barely heard her.

"I don't know." Matt confessed, as they walked in the direction of the city.

Tina, terrible with her gun, had slashed her way through part of the zombies. She'd made it to the top of the stairs, and the zombies hadn't made it up the stairs yet. She dashed up the stairs as fast as she could, only to be greeted by a group of crows bursting through the hallway window. Tina covered her head as the crows pecked away at her arms. She ducked into Sherry's room and slammed the door shut. She collapsed at the front of the door, exhausted. She wiped the sweat and blood off her face. After relaxing a bit, she stood up and immediately saw Sherry's locket on her nightstand.

"There it is!" Tina realized, walking over to it.

She picked up the locket and put it in her pocket. Right after that, Tina heard her walky-talky ringing in her back pocket. It must be Matt, wondering how I'm doing, she thought. She picked up the walky-talky and held it in her ear.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hello Tina. It's good to hear from you again." An all too familiar voice replied.

"Wesker!" Tina cried.

Wesker chuckled villainously. "Yes Tina, so slow to catch on."

"So you are still alive." Tina realized.

"Yes, I have left Umbrella. At a most convenient time as I've noticed." He commented.

Tina looked towards the door, and heard the rapping and pecking coming from the zombies and the crows from behind that door. She then saw that Sherry's bedroom window had a drainpipe near it.

"Why are you calling me?" Tina asked, opening Sherry's bedroom window.

"Because I see you and your friends are in quite a jam." He explained.

"If you're asking if we need a ride out of the city, the answer is no." Tina replied, scaling down the drain pipe near Sherry's window.

"But I think you'll find that some provided transportation will soon be needed." Wesker predicted. "Until then."

And just like that, the walky-talky emitted static again. Tina turned off the walky-talky and slipped it back into her pocket. So Wesker was still alive, and he was offering us a chance to leave the city. But knowing Wesker, there had to be some strings attached, no way would he help us without having some sort of hidden motive. She started running to catch up to Matt and Sherry. What would he want from us, she thought. If he didn't work for Umbrella anymore, there wouldn't be a motive for him to retrieve us for them. Unless Umbrella wasn't the only ones tracking us…but who else besides Umbrella was researching the viruses? More than we realize, Tina thought. She then saw two shadows peeking out in the distance. She thought it was Matt and Sherry, but it turned out to be two more zombies, which she had to tab to death. Where were they?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Hey Mom? Sherry's parents said it's ok for her to stay at our place." Matt told her.

"Alright then Matt, do you need a ride?" she asked.

Matt was about to say yes, when he remembered that they weren't at Sherry's house.

"No Mom, Sherry's parents are going to drive us home." Matt lied.

Matt and Clara hung up and Matt stood up.

"Well, don't want to keep her waiting do we?" Matt asked, as Sherry got up as well.

* * *

"Huh, huh…Matt, are we there yet?" Sherry wheezed, while Matt easily continued jogging forward. He stopped when he saw that Sherry was once again out of breath.

"We're almost there. Just one block more." he encouraged her.

"I, I can't…anymore." Sherry panted, collapsing to his knees.

Matt tried to get Sherry up, but it became apparent to him that she just couldn't walk any farther. He decided that if they were going to make it to his house, he would have to carry her. He awkwardly lifted her up with both arms. It felt weird, holding her up. He felt her heart pounding quickly and saw that her cheeks were pinkish. He quickly looked away.

* * *

September 24, 1998 Matt's House, Raccoon City Suburbs

Matt and Sherry finally made it to his house. After politely greeting Matt's mother, Sherry said that she was tried and went to Matt's room to rest while Matt enjoyed some reheated dinner his mom had made for him.

"Where's Tina?" Clara asked her son.

Matt's chewing slowed, and he uncomfortably swallowed.

"Um, she was busy today." He mumbled through his food.

"Oh, I was just asking since you two always seem to hang out together. I mean, I've never seen you hang out with Sherry without Tina." she commented.

Matt couldn't find a good excuse. "Well, um…"

"Sweetie, are you in an argument?" she asked.

"No, of course not!" he cried, his voice getting higher.

"Matt, is there something going on? You know you can tell me." She told him.

Suddenly, a tap was heard at the front door, then another tap, and then another.

"I wonder who's calling at this hour." She wondered, as she started for the door.

Matt grabbed his mother's arm firmly, and pulled her away from the door.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? What's gotten into you?" she shouted, shaking out her arm from Matt's grip.

The tapping from outside was cracking the stained glass. Soon, the glass shattered, and the tapping man fell through the window and onto the floor.

"Oh my goodness!" Clara cried at the sight of the fallen man.

The man rose, his face a sickly pale, his jaw disfigured and his clothes torn.

"Mom, it's a monster!" Matt cried, took out his gun and shot the zombie in the face.

The bullet hit the zombie in the sweet spot and his head exploded into a gushing fountain of blood. The body collapsed to the floor, blood staining the carpet.

"Matt…how could you…gah!" Clara staggered back, supporting herself on the kitchen counter.

Matt slipped the gun into his back pocket and ran over to his Mom, but she quickly stopped him.

"How…why…he…hmp!" she fumbled before vomiting into the sink.

Matt waited until she was finished upchucking before speaking again. "Mom, that man was a zombie. He was going to kill both of us if I didn't do something.".

Clara turned around to face her son, how could he have done such a thing, and be so calm about it? She lifted herself off of the counter, I'm just over thinking it, she thought.

"Mom?" Matt asked.

Sherry and Matt helped her onto the living room couch. There, Sherry fetched a glass and started to fill it with water.

"Wait!" Matt whispered as she filled the glass with sink with water. "The mansion became infected in the first place because the water was contaminated. What if this is the same case?" he asked, grabbing the glass out of her hand and pouring out its contents.

"But then, wouldn't you and I already be infected? We had water during lunch, and after P.E. too." Sherry replied.

"Who knows, but we shouldn't take any risks." he pointed out.

"Well than what should I make? Your mom needs to drink something." Sherry told him.

"Do you know how to make coffee?" Matt asked.

"Yeah." Sherry replied, a little confused.

"Well then make a cup for everyone, because it's going to be a long night." Matt told her, sitting down on a living room chair, planning what to do next.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Where's Tina? She was right behind me a second ago, I know I just saw her. I glanced around all of the rushing scientists in white lab coats. I pushed my way through the crowd of white coats until I found the vent that Wesker instructed us to find. I opened up the vent, and closed it safety behind me, just in case anyone besides Tina were to find it open. I crawled through the tiny space, wondering how far behind Tina was. The vent seemed to go on forever, until it finally led to a ladder that went up. I looked at the base of the ladder and saw that there were two train tickets stuck to the first step. I took one, figuring the second one was reserved for Tina. I started climbing up it, going higher until I reached the surface. Panting, I pushed open the manhole that covered the exit. I looked up, it was the Raccoon City, right near the train station, just like Wesker said. I ran over to the train station, when a car zoomed right in front of me. I jumped back, and the car honked it's horn. Ops, guess I better use the crosswalk…

* * *

The train station looked awesome, with it's detailed walls and architecture. There were vendors everywhere, selling clothes and food. But, I don't have any money to buy anything. It's a shame really, maybe I could come back and buy something. But now's not the time. I stood near the train station entrance, waiting for Tina. Where was she? Suddenly, I felt a hand behind my back, I turned around, but it wasn't Tina.

"Matthew, so good you made it." a syrupy, low voice greeted him.

I froze in place. The tall man in police gear was Wesker. Why did he follow me? And where was Tina?

"I see only one of you showed up after all. Oh well, it'll have to do." he commented, and gently pushed Matt forward.

But another voice stopped them both. "Captain Wesker, what're you doing here?" a police officer asked.

Wesker slowly turned around. The police officer seemed puzzled, obviously oblivious to what was going on.

"Officer Ford, if you must know, I'm here with my nephew who just arrived in town." Wesker told him, placing his hand on my shoulder, the other behind his back.

"Oh, um, ok then sir…good day." Officer Ford replied, snapping back into his position.

The man seemed terrified of Wesker, but why? He's an old guy who wears sunglasses all the time, what's so scary about that? He led me away from the police officer, towards one of the smaller stations. I looked at my ticket, and realized that this wasn't the station I was suppose to go to. I looked at Wesker, but his blank stare didn't seem to waver. I looked behind me to where the police officer had been. I saw, at the entrance the police officer was talking to Tina! They were too far away for me to hear what was going on but she was there! I started waving to her, and called out,

"Hey, hey Tina! It's me, I'm right he-" but I was cut off by Wesker's firm hand covering my mouth.

I struggled to wretch free from his grip, but I was much shorter and scrawnier than he was and he knew it. He pulled me over into a corner of what I now realized was an empty station. He pulled me into the corner and pulled out a army knife. He tried to hold me down but I kept struggling out of his range.

"Stop resisting you fool! You have no idea what I'm trying to accomplish!" Wesker grunted, trying not to raise his voice.

I then heard a sharp ripping sound, and time seemed to slow down. My body dropped to the ground, over a pool of blood collecting on the floor. I suddenly felt my vision float away from my body, and I now was seeing this from a third-person perspective, as if the boy dying wasn't me. I saw Wesker get up from stabbing me, and he said,

"This will be the last time you will ever feel true pain. Your time as a human is up, time for you to become a god." and with that, Wesker slowly strolled away. I felt my vision float towards my lifeless body, and saw, that as I lied there, my stomach closed up, pushing the knife out of my chest until it lay on top of my blood soaked body.

* * *

"SH-" Matt was about to swear before Sherry quickly covered his mouth.

Sherry pressed her index finger to his lips, a very worried look on her face. She then pointed to the window near the kitchen. There were dozens of zombies, just outside the house. Only a couple of them seemed to notice that they were in the house, but it seemed like Sherry had secured the windows and door by herself. Matt slowly sat up from the chair, he must have fallen asleep. Thank god that was just a dream, he thought. He'd been having similar dreams ever since he came back from the mansion, sometimes in chronological order, sometimes not. Sherry led him over to his mother's room, where there weren't any windows. Clara was curdled up in her bed, softly crying into her pillow. Matt slowly approached her, and whispered softly,

"Mom, we're getting out of here." he told her.

Clara turned to him, her face red with tears. "You don't have to hurt them sweetie. They're people.".

Matt looked away from her. "You don't get it, Mom. They're not people, not anymore." he coldly told her.

Clara sobbed into her pillow, and collapsed into her bed. "It doesn't have to be like this, you didn't have to do that!" she cried.

Rattling noises could suddenly be heard from the living room.

"They can hear us." Sherry whispered frantically.

Matt walked over to the hallway. Crouching lower, he saw that the number of zombies pounding at the house had grown in numbers. Some of the wooden supports had fallen off, and the table pushed up against the door wasn't going to hold forever. Matt quickly scurried back to his mother's room.

"We have to get out of here." he told Sherry.

Sherry nodded, and walked over to Clara, who'd returned to sobbing into her pillow. Sherry climbed onto her bed and tried shaking her out of her sobbing.

"Matt's mom, we need to get out of here." she told her.

Clara looked up at the small, blonde girl in her school uniform. She then looked at Matt, and asked herself, what had become of the innocent boy she once knew? Or was he never there to begin with?


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Tina made her way over to what she believed to be Matt's house. She couldn't tell anymore, she was just so exhausted. She hid in some nearby bushes, since there were still so many zombies around. Was there any end to them? She'd already been through dozens of them. The city had a population of about one hundred thousand people, how many had already become zombies? I saw that the house had been fortified against the zombies, but it was starting to fall apart. I better get in there quickly, Tina thought, and ran over to the back entrance.

Matt and Sherry pulled Clara out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, the zombies gathering at the windows and front door. There, they saw that there weren't as many zombies near the back door, and none seemed aware they were there.

"Alright, we sneak out the back door, and onto the street." Matt told them.

"But where will we go?" Sherry asked.

"WAIT!" It was Clara, who hadn't spoken a word since leaving her bedroom. She scurried from her place on the kitchen floor and into the living room.

Matt turned around and looked at his mother, "What are you doing Mom?" he impatiently asked.

Clara was hurrying around the living room, collecting scrapbooks, the pictures on the mantle, and some other knick-knacks and trinkets. "We need to at least take these." she told them.

Matt threw his arms up in the air, "Well, that's what we really need Mom, pictures! Not food, or water, just pictures!".

Suddenly, a slamming noise was heard just from the other side of the back door.

"Just great, you must have attracted a zombie or two." Matt complained, pulling out his Beretta handgun.

Clara turned around to see Matt holding his gun to the back door. "MATT, WHERE DID YOU GET THAT GUN?!" she cried at the top of her lungs.

Matt swerved around to see his mother petrified, in more shock than ever. "Where did you get that?!" she pointed to his gun.

Matt looked at the weapon, now realizing that his mother never knew he had it.

"Matt's mom, now's really not the time to ask questions. We have to find a way out of here." she told her.

Clara hesitated, but then nodded. The banging sound on the outside of the door grew louder, and Matt once again drew his gun. He slowly walked over to the door, and dramatically kicked the door open.

"Oomph!" a voice said.

Matt approached the back porch. There still weren't that many zombies, but someone was lying down right on the back porch, the person he threw off. He couldn't see the person very well, due to lack of light.

"Um, hello?" Matt asked, lowering his gun just a bit.

The person rose steadily, long dark hair waving about. The person stepped a little closer into the light to reveal her face. It was Tina!

"Tina, thank god you're alive!" Matt jumped up and pulled her into a hug.

Tina looked exhausted, her clothes, face, and knife were covered in blood. "Matt, I'm fine. You really don't need to hug me." Tina cried, separating themselves.

Matt turned around, to see that Sherry and Clara were beaming at them. Matt pulled farther away from Tina, his face flushed with embarrassment. Tina grew embarrassed too, although she hid it better than he did.

"Behind you!" Sherry cried.

Matt and Tina jumped away just in time to see a zombie lunge at them. Matt reached for his gun, and fired a clean shot into his head. The zombie flew back and landed on a couple of others.

"Let's go!" Matt cried.

The group ran away from the house and into the suburban streets. Surprisingly enough, there were still some people in the neighborhood. They didn't seem to notice them though, they were too occupied by their worries. The group made their way through the neighborhood, quietly whispering among themselves.

"We need to get out of town." Matt stated.

"What's the fastest way out of town?" Sherry asked.

Clara paused to think for a second, then took out a small pocket version of the map of Raccoon City. She pointed to where we were, about a block from Jack Street. "If we can get to Jack Street, we would be less than a block away from the police station. We'd be safe there." she said.

Matt's face twisted just a bit. He didn't like the idea of being protected by police officers. He pointed to a spot just a block away from there. "Or we could go to Central Station. The Raccoon-Arklay line would take us straight out of town.". He knew it was obvious he wanted to get out of town, but as much as he hated to admit it, he knew this place was doomed.

"Matt sweetie, we should still try the police station. It's on the way anyway." Clara told him.

"Yeah, my Mommy and Daddy always said to go to the police station if there was ever an emergency. My parents know the police chief." Sherry chimed in.

"Fine, but we leave town as soon as we can." Matt told them.

They marched on through Jack Street, not running into too many zombies along the way. Matt and Tina drifted behind Sherry and Clara, so that they could talk.

"What's the rush to get out of the city?" Tina asked, a bit puzzled.

"It's just like the mansion, nobody's coming to help us, and sooner or later they're just going to call it quits and blow us to smithereens! I bet Umbrella already has a cover story for this one." Matt convulsed,

"Matt, Umbrella can't cover up something this big. The mansion had less than a hundred people in it. This city has thousands. The army will come, and take care of all of this." Tina tried to convince him.

"Yeah they'll come, but they won't know what they're doing." Matt pointed out.

Matt was right, Tina realized. Come to think of it, she never had even thought of help that much while she was in the mansion. In fact, she didn't really have time to think at all during the time. All she could think about was getting Matt and herself out of the mansion safely.

* * *

They heard the gunshots from the police station before they even left Jack Street. The police station was surrounded by police cars, most likely to be used as barricades. There weren't too many zombies around, but there weren't too many police officers around either, just, a lot of bodies. Wading through the bodies, Clara let out a scream and stomped on something. Matt whipped his head around to see what was going on.

"I'm fine. Just a scratch from a little rat." She told him.

Matt then turned his attention to Tina, who looked very worried. They looked at each other for a bit while Sherry ran over to Clara. Knowing that now was not the time to talk about it, they continued on.

* * *

When the group arrived, they were greeted with a officer with a loaded shotgun.

"Stop, don't shoot. We're people." Tina told the officer, who was gripping the shotgun defensively.

The officer nodded and backed off, the nervous look seeming to be stuck on his face.

"Wee!" Matt said as he slid across one of the police cars to the other side of the barricade.

"Be careful Matt!" Clara cried, shimming through two police cars.

Tina and Sherry exchanged glances before walking in-between the police cars. "Boys." they both mumbled, but they were still smiling.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Matt and Tina looked around the police station entrance. Dozens of people were sitting around the main room, with more in the hallways. Sherry ran off into one of the hallways, and Matt and Tina followed. They eventually reached a office of the Chief of Police, Brian Irons. Sherry didn't knock, she just threw the door open, which was very unlike her. Meanwhile, Matt and Tina held back at the entrance.

"Chief Irons, it's me Sherry, William Birkin's daughter!" Sherry called.

Chief Irons, at his desk, looked up from a jumble of papers on his desk, "Oh, yes, Birkin's kid. Well, um, we always have room for one more citizen of Raccoon City. And, and I see you've brought you friends, good, good…" the Chief's speech wandered off, like he was preoccupied. "Chief Irons, have you seen my parents?! Are they here?!" she asked, pacing around his office frantically.

"Sherry, right?" Chief Irons asked.

Sherry nodded.

"You're parents are probably still at the Umbrella Chemical Plant." he told her.

Sherry stomped her foot on the ground, "That's all the way across town! What if something's happened to them?! They could be hurt or any…".

"Child, will you shut up!" Chief Irons shouted, slamming his hands on his desk.

Matt stepped into the office, strode in front of Sherry and pointed his gun at Chief Irons, "She's worried about her parents and you tell her to shut up?!" he asked, furious.

Tina poked her head into the office a little closer. What was Matt doing? He'd never do something like this, but here he is…

"Boy, those are one of our guns! Where'd you get that?!" Chief Irons asked, stepping around his desk.

"Picked it off a dead cop. Now, say you're sorry, now!" Matt lied, putting his finger on the trigger.

Tina was abruptly pushed out of the way by two police officers, who disarmed Matt and hauled him away.

"Now that that's over with, you children run along. Do whatever it is children do." Chief Irons said, returning to his desk.

Sherry sulked out of the room, Tina following her.

"Well, didn't see that coming." Tina commented.

"Me neither. But, it was, kind of him. Where do you think they've taken him?" Sherry asked.

"I'd think they'd taken him to the jail cells, don't you?" Tina asked.

Sherry and Tina walked back to the main room, where a few more survivors were arriving into the police station. They first checked in with Clara, who was sitting along with a couple of other survivors.

"Are you ok Matt's mom?" Sherry asked.

"Oh, I'm ok, *cough*, *cough*. Just a little cough, that's all *cough*." Clara told them.

Tina tried to hide her worry, but she knew what Clara had, and it wasn't a cough. Sherry didn't know that Clara was infected, but she could definitely tell something was wrong. They made their way along one of the side halls and down into the basement where in the jail cells they found Matt, the only prisoner.

"What the hell was that Matt?! You pointed your gun at the Chief of Police, and you got your gun confiscated too! How are you going to defend yourself against zombies now?!" Tina ranted at him.

"Come on, I can totally handle myself without a gun." Matt countered.

"Ugh! You're impossible!" Tina cried, turning and walking away from his cell.

Sherry was about to follow her, but turned back. Matt was lying on the cell bench, staring at the ceiling. She approached him cautiously, until she was practically pressing her nose against the metal bars.

"Um…Matt? I just wanna say…thanks. That was kind of you." she thanked him.

"Yeah, sure. No problem." Matt replied, still staring at the ceiling.

Sherry nodded, and walked away, as Matt began to doze off.

My vision was blurry, but at least I could see. The platform was still empty, and, and I was still lying on the ground. As the world around me became more clear, I began to stand up. I saw the pool of blood that had seeped onto the floor. I felt a army knife in my lap, I remember now, Wesker, he'd stabbed me with it…was I dreaming, there was no way I could still be alive. I put the knife in my pocket, in case he came back. I was finally able to fully stand up when I saw the time on the platform clock. The Ecliptic Express was about to leave! I started running out of the smaller platform, slipping on my own blood on the way. I made my way up to the train station, and I frantically looked around for the platform that I was suppose to go to. I looked at my ticket and realized that it was the biggest platform in the station. Smacking myself in the head, I ran towards it. I just got there when the train took off.

"Shoot!" I cried, running to the tip of the platform.

I looked around, there was no way I could find that train except…I took a deep breath, and jumped into the rail.

"Hey boy, you can't do that! Come back up before you kill yourself." a man in a suit told me.

I turned around to face him, about to say something smart, but the man became paralyzed. He backed up into the small crowd, who were all gawking at me. What was wrong with me? Maybe they saw the blood on my clothes, but that wasn't it…they kept saying "his eyes", what was wrong with my eyes? I shook it off, I'll worry about it later. I took off in the direction of the train. I followed the train tracks, through the city. Everything started blurring around me, until I could barely see what I was passing, or what was in front of me. What were those people staring at, what is it that made me so scary to them…? An abrupt force stopped me from running, and I hit the ground. I think I'd hit something, it felt like, like a building, but how could I have hit a building? Had I strayed that far from the tracks? My vision cleared, and I realized that the object I had hit was the train. And not just any train, it was the Ecliptic Express! I'd caught up to the train! But how, we weren't even out of the city yet. I'd planned on following the tracks to the end of the line, where I'd meet up with Tina. I ran up to the train, going a little slower so that I could still see. I hopped onto the train's caboose, but the door was locked. But I saw in the reflection of the door's window, that along with blood-stained clothes, instead of my normal brown eyes, I had a pair of golden, cat-like eyes. I jumped back, nearly falling off the train. I clung to the railing, pulling myself back up, I stumbled back to the window. I took a better look at my new eyes. What could have caused this? Then I remembered the liquid that Wesker had injected into Tina and I back at the Umbrella Headquarters. Could the liquid have caused this and, how was it activated? It was probably also how I was able to catch up with the train…But then I remembered, Tina! She's probably looking for me! But how was I going to get in, the door is locked. Well, if the liquid was able to allow me to run fast enough to catch up with the train, what else could I do? I looked to my right, and saw a ladder, leading to the top of the train.

"New powers, don't let me down." I said aloud, before jumping onto the ladder.

I clung onto the ladder easily, as I climbed up. I felt the wind of the train whip my face as I climbed up to the roof of the train. I stood on the roof, and looked down. I gulped, it was quite a long fall down. I took one step forward, my heart pounding, but my feet held firm. I took another step, still scared. Another step, and another, until I was walking at a normal pace, as if I was still on the ground. I looked down at the cars below me through the roof windows, scanning them for Tina. Hey, there she is, wandering the cars! She must be looking for me! I then burst into a run, now having a little more control of my speed. I ran a few cars ahead of her, to one that was fairly empty. I opened up a window and jumped down into the car. I caught my reflection in the window, and saw that my clothes were still stained with blood, and that my eyes, still had that golden hue. I glanced around, she was going to come in any second now. I then saw a vest and a pair of sunglasses on a bench. I quickly grabbed them and put them on, but they looked somewhat familiar. I started walking in Tina's direction and put my hands into the vest's pockets. But then I felt a piece of paper in one of the pockets. I swung into a small side corner of the train, and took a quick peek at it: _Give her gold eyes -Wesker_

I gulped, if I were to make her like me, that would mean I'd have to…but I would never. But at the same time, she'd have super powers, like me. But how would she react? She's a girl, she'd probably freak out if I just suddenly pulled a knife on her. Which reminds me, I have a knife now, and a gun…Just then, I saw Tina flash by me, she'd passed me! I shoved the note back into my pocket, and composed myself. If I'm going to do it, I'll do it, discreetly. No way I'm going to kill her directly. Oh, but what's the difference really, how could I even do such a thing? I stepped out of my hiding place,

"There you are!" I cried, waving at her.

Tina turned around, "New clothes?" she asked, arching her eyebrow suspiciously, but still had a happy smile on her face.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Matt was jerked awake by the abrupt touch of someone patting him on the shoulder.

"Hey, hey son, you need to get up." a male voice said.

Matt blinked open his eyes to see it was one of the police officers, waking him up.

"Huh?" Matt grunted, lifting his head up.

He looked around, and noticed that there wasn't anybody sleeping or lying on the ground anymore. He reluctantly got up from his substitute bed, and looked out the window. It was still the dead of night. It felt like such a long time when he was asleep, and at the same time, when he awoke, it didn't seem like enough. He followed where all of the other refugees were going, it seemed like they were in a hurry. He looked around for Tina, Sherry, and Clara and eventually found them, shuffling along with a group of other refugees.

"Hey, Mom, you guys! What's going on?" he asked, running up to them.

"The police are trying to evacuate the city, so they're all trying to lead us to the highway." Sherry explained.

Clara, who had wrapped a raggedy blanket around herself, had become paler and was coughing heavily. Most of the other refugees were keeping their distance from her, suspecting exactly what Matt and Tina were suspecting. But Sherry was next to her, holding her hand as they walked through the police station to the heavy front doors. Matt walked along with them, keeping a weary eye on Clara. Tina tapped Matt lightly on the shoulder and whispered into his ear,

"Matt, you mom's condition is getting worse. What are we going to do?".

"I'll think of something." he whispered back.

Tina furrowed her eyebrows, "Alright, but "think of something" soon. We're running out of time." she warned him.

Matt nodded slowly, staring down at the floor. The group passed one of the offices, and Matt, childlike curiosity overcoming him, broke off from the group and went off to explore the office. The office had several desks lined up in two rows, a couple of them had computers. Papers were frantically scattered about, many lying on the floor or resting in piles on the desk. Matt picked up a couple of the papers. None of them were very useful, Matt realized as he leafed through the papers. He set them down, and, feeling like he'd wasted his time, began to leave. But then he noticed something sticking out of one of the desk drawers. He opened the drawer, and inside it was a shotgun, along with a packet of shotgun ammo. He took the shotgun out and examined it. It was a lot like the shotgun that he'd used at the mansion, but he'd lost his. This would be useful, but how could he hide it? He knew how his mom would react if she saw him with a shotgun strapped around his back. He stopped, and looked at his reflection through one of the windows. Since he was rather thin, there didn't seem to be any place where he could tuck his shotgun into and not have it stick out awkwardly.

"Hey kid, what're you doing with that?!" it was one of the police officers, who must have been checking to see if everyone was out of the building.

"That's one of our guns!" the officer declared.

The officer whipped out his handgun and pointed it directly at Matt.

"Put the gun down son!" the officer demanded.

Matt put his weapon on the ground and held his hands up. "Ok, ok! Gosh, I wasn't gonna shoot anyone with it!".

The officer lowered his gun and put it back into its holster, "Thank God, sorry kid, things have been crazy around here. Now get back with the others.".

Matt nodded, and walked out of the office. As he did, he glanced back at the officer. The officer picked up the shotgun and carried it with him, as he followed Matt. Aw man, I wanted that shotgun, Matt thought to himself.

"Where's Matt?" Clara asked weakly, her question sounding more like a moan.

"I'm sure he's just off exploring, you know how he is." Tina assured her.

"Oh…alright…" Clara mumbled.

Tina glanced at Sherry. They weren't sure how much longer she could last. Just then, Matt ran up to them.

"Where were you?" Tina asked, rather annoyed with him.

"Nothing." Matt replied.

Matt approached his mom cautiously, like he was expecting her to jump out at him.

"Hey Mom, how you holding up?" he asked quietly.

"I…I'm ok." his mother murmured.

Matt frowned. Her face had become so pale that the veins on her face and arms were starting to show, and her eyes were starting to form red veins on the edges. It looked like she was aging in a matter of hours. The group had left the police station and were walking along the street, towards the highway. Matt suddenly grabbed Clara's hand,

"Hey Mom, I'm gonna take you over there for a minute." he told her, pointing to a small side street.

"Oh…ok." she agreed.

She let go of Sherry's hand as Matt led her away into the side street. Tina squeezed her fists until her nails had made indentations into her skin. Sherry shivered, despite it being a warm night. Matt lead his mother away from the group and into the thin side street. There was a single zombie in the corner, but Matt easily pacified it. Matt set her down on the wet concrete.

"I'm, I'm sorry I couldn't find a better spot…it's just that…I, I can tell that you…you're not going to last…much longer and…well…I wouldn't…I couldn't…see you as, as a zombie. But I don't wanna…" Matt trailed off, his face becoming pink, and then red. "Why is it, that when I finally get a rest from these stupid zombies, they show up, again! I mean, come on, the mansion _blew up_! How did the virus leak again?! God damn Umbrella with their stupid viruses and money. Why can't I just, can't I just take a break?!" he ranted.

He pulled out the gun. Clara was slumped on the ground, drooling. Matt drew out his gun and placed it on his mother's temple.

"Mom, you know, I could never call anyone Mom before I met you." he admitted.

Bang…


End file.
